But the U.S. employment picture actually began to crumble several years before that, according to new research that suggests that the origins of the current jobs troubles may be harder to pinpoint.

In this view, the jobs crisis began in 2000, when the proportion of U.S. residents of working age with jobs peaked after decades of rising steadily — and then began a decline.

This falloff “represents an historic turnaround in the evolution of U.S. employment,” says Robert A. Moffitt, an economics professor at Johns Hopkins University and the author of a new paper on the subject from the National Bur

5. The middle class has no money

It's all been transferred to the Predator Class.

So commerce slows, then fewer jobs are needed to meet the dropping demand.

Only government spending that creates middle class jobs, i.e. Kaynsian pump priming, can make things better at this point. Good thing that bipartisan austerity begins Jan 1. That will help a lot... NOT.